Nicola Sturgeon said in a keynote speech last week that independence may offer the most “certainty and stability” for Scotland if the UK opts to quit the European Union, as expected.

The First Minister previously said a second referendum on whether Scotland should go it alone is “highly likely”.

But an opinion pull published on Thursday found almost a third of voters want to wait until the UK’s deal with the European Union (EU) is clear before deciding whether to hold another Scottish independence referendum.